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(Institution’s Name)

(Student name)

(Students city and postal code).

(Street Name and Address)

July 3, 2023.

Dear Dr. Bushman,

I am writing this letter to support your article titled “It’s Time to Kill the Death Penalty,” which

was published on January 19, 2014 on Psychology Today. The article is well written and found it

to be unique, thoughtful and relevant. It is based on an in-depth research, making its findings

accurate and reliable. The follow of ideas and points is well organized, making it easier to

understand the main objective. I am a Christian and I love how you start the article by outlining

specific Bible verses. It is God who give life, and I believe that he is the only one supposed to

take it.

I agree with you that death penalty is deeply flawed because we are in a new era where countries

and governments are governed by a constitution. The US constitution has a Bill of Rights,

containing the first 10 Amendment that protect the public and ensure they enjoy their rights as

stipulated. Reason number eights state that the death penalty negatively impacts jurors, justices,

governors, executioners, and the families of victims (Bushman, 2014). I agree with this point

because innocent people are imprisoned and executed now and then despite how our justice

system is developed. Death penalty for innocent people is worse to all the parties listed above

because unlike prison sentences that can be revisited and be heard again, death penalty is
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irreversible and irreparable. This means that the parties live blaming themselves for not making

the right decisions or not fighting enough for their loved ones.

I support your article, especially point number four and five where you suggest that death penalty

seems to target specific people. For instance, people of color and poor people. Liptak (2020)

affirm this point by suggesting that black lives do not matter nearly as much as white ones when

it comes to the death penalty. The author further suggest that defendants convicted of killing

white people are more likely to be executed than the killers of Black people. Therefore, I support

your argument because the death penalty seems to be racially biased. Grosso et al (2019) claim

that the issue of racial disparities in the death penalty was considered by the Supreme Court in

1987 and there was no proof of racial discrimination. However, the Court has now found that

there is racial discrimination in jury selection.

Unfortunately, racial bias continues in the criminal justice system, whereby law enforcement

officers, witnesses, jurors, and others law officers are forced to offer harsher punishment to

minorities or people of color. This happens even without legal sanction or intention and I believe

one way to reduce these discriminations is by abolishing the death penalty. Doing so is not

glorying crimes, but I think we should find a better option other than death penalty that does not

take life. For instance, life imprisonment without parole. Therefore, I support that the United

States should join over 140 other countries in abolishing the death penalty.

(Student’s name).
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References

Bushman, B., J., (January 19, 2014). It’s Time to Kill the Death Penalty: The U.S. should join

over 100 other countries and ban the death penalty. Psychology Today.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/get-psyched/201401/its-time-to-kill-the-

death-penalty?amp

Grosso, C. M., Fagan, J., Laurence, M., Baldus, D., Woodworth, G., & Newell, R. (2019). Death

by stereotype: Race, ethnicity, and California's failure to implement Furman's narrowing

requirement. UCLA L. Rev., 66, 1394.

Liptak, A., (August. 3, 2020). A Vast Racial Gap in Death Penalty Cases, New Study Finds. The

New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/racial-gap-death-penalty.html